Lynn B. Jorde, Ph.D.
2100 EIHG
CAMPUS
Phone: (801) 581-4566
Email: lbj@genetics.utah.edu
Our laboratory published 12 peer-reviewed papers in 2011, including one in Nature, one in Nature Genetics, and one in PNAS (these three are from large collaborations with the 1000 Genomes Project, in which I and members of my lab participated as investigators). Thus far in 2012, we have published seven peer-reviewed articles, including one in which we identified the genetic cause of alternating hemiplegia of childhood, a serious neurologic condition (Heinzen et al., 2012, Nature Genetics).
In a paper published last year in Genome Research (Huff et al., 2011), we developed a patented method for estimating familial relationships based on DNA microarray or sequence data. This method formed the basis of a proposal to the National Institute of Justice, which has scored very highly and appears likely to be funded this year. My major R01, with total direct costs of approximately $1.7 million, was funded in 2010 for another four years and is now in its third grant cycle. I am also the PI of a new five-year NIH subcontract (with Johns Hopkins University and Baylor University) to apply whole-genome sequencing to identify disease-causing genes. Earlier this year, we submitted a new NIH R01 proposal (with Mark Yandell), which was scored highly by a study section three weeks ago. We have just resubmitted a proposal to the March of Dimes Foundation (with Sean Esplin, Erin Clark, and Mike Varner) to investigate the genetics of spontaneous preterm birth.
We have begun a major new research initiative, the Utah Genome Project, in which we plan to carry out whole-genome sequencing of approximately 2,500 members of the Utah Population Database. We anticipate that this project, over several years, will identify new genes that contribute to the causation of at least a dozen major human diseases.
In 2011, I served a one-year elected term as president of the 8,000-member American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG). I will continue to serve on the board of directors of the ASHG for the next two years.